Free audiobooks for Earth Day
Today is Earth Day here in the States and other countries, a holiday met with mixed emotions and controversy from the masses. Like the general public, many authors making their books available as serialized free audiobooks tackle the central tenets of Earth Day in many different ways.
On the serious and educational side, we have The Spirit of Education. Episode 19 in particular speaks to our cultures’ singular way of knowing, and how alternative ways of knowing (also legitimate) can help us with the sorts of challenges that Earth Day hopes to address. Do you approach Earth Day from a philosophical angle? Flores Girl is a cautionary tale about our unbridled avarice for the resources of this planet and the ultimate cost of that industrialization and exploitation to all living things that we supposedly have dominion over.
On the doom and destruction end of the spectrum, what could be more fun that an all-out race to literally save the earth? Singularity has a pending threat not just to the eight-mile deep biosphere skin of our planet, but to the very planet itself. And the planet aside for a moment: what about us? The Heaven series of books deals with life-after-death on a global scale, as the Earth is destroyed, rebuilt and then destroyed again.
For the environmental activist, White Trash Land covers the conflict between developers, conservationists and the species caught in the crossfire. Shift the topic to coal-fired power plants and the focus to Capitol Hill and you’ve got a key story line from Capitol Coven.
Some tie-ins are more obvious. Take Earthcore for example. What? You don’t celebrate Earth Day by digging the world’s deepest mine shaft and discovering prehistoric deranged knife-wielding octopoid aliens? Others are less so. Clear Heart examines one carpenter’s desire for balance, harmony and precision pitted against his client’s need for bigger, louder and more expensive. And the heroine in The Communion of the Saint draws her power — and carries the story — from the earth itself.
Happy Earth Day, everyone!
